Recycling in full swing?December 13, 2010Dear Sir,The various internal soundbites recently coming from the UBP give new meaning to the term ‘recyclables” !Most people have realised by now that the UBP can’t attract anyone new or young ... I think they announced good old Alan Marshall as a candidate a few months back and now we have Susan Jackson and Tillman (Main Man) Darrell and probably Suzanne Holzshouser in the mix. On the executive we have Ed Bailey, Nick Swan and a few other familiar names who’ve been around for years (did you really think Nick and Susie were going somewhere else?)Recycling is in full swing ... this is the proverbial re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic ! I hope the Bermuda voting public can see through this sham and realise that the only viable alternative to the PLP is the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. No, they aren’t perfect and maybe they haven’t been as vocal and publicity-seeking as the UBP, but it takes a little time to develop a brand new way of doing things. It’s easy to just throw out the same names, same ideas, and the same old, same old everything .... it takes a little longer to bring diversity, youth and new and fresh ideas to the forefront.I think we are truly seeing the death throes of a political party which has missed the boat and is pulling out all the old names in the hope that someone will still believe! My vote and my hopes go with the BDA and if the PLP is to be removed, I am very sure it won’t be by this new version of the same old UBP..POLLYSouthamptonWe should be up in armsDecember 7, 2010Dear Sir,In several countries facing deficits and difficult times ahead (e.g. Greece, Ireland, France) government employee salaries and entitlements (i.e. pensions) are being reduced.In Bermuda, despite its large deficit situation and the certainty, not possibility but certainty, of difficult times ahead, Bermuda has increased the pensions of all Government employees and likewise those of Members of Parliament and it follows also their pension entitlements. Meanwhile our senior citizens get no increase in their pensions and fall further behind.Every Member of Parliament could and should have backed a Bill to put a halt to the arrangement for these increases which were agreed before Bermuda’s recent downturn. Bermudians should be up in arms about this matter and indeed in other jurisdictions, people would be taking to the streets to protest. These increases are raising Bermuda’s debt when Government should be taking steps to reduce it or, at the very least, not adding to it. But then again, Bermuda is another world.ANNE PEARSONHamilton Parish